It’s not too early to be thinking about Field Day 2016 and planning your club’s strategy for a bigger score and greater participation than last year. Field Day is June 25-26 — always the 4th full weekend in June — and the 2016 ARRL Field Day Packet now is available to download as a PDF file. This year’s Field Day introduces two new ways to score bonus points — Social Media and Safety Officer.

Rule 7.3.16 Social Media offers 100 bonus points for promoting your Field Day activation to the general public via an active, recognized, and utilized social media platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. This bonus is available to bona fide Amateur Radio clubs and Field Day groups that welcome visitors to their operations. These bonus points are not available to individual participants, and club websites do not qualify as social media for this bonus. The bonus points are available to all Field Day entry classes meeting the criteria.

Rule 7.3.17 Safety Officer offers 100 bonus points by designating someone to serve as a Safety Officer for groups setting up Class A stations. This person must verify that all safety concerns on the Safety Check List — found in the ARRL Field Day Packet— have been adequately met. This is an active bonus. Simply designating someone as Safety Officer does not automatically earn the bonus points. In order to claim this bonus, participants must include a statement verifying the completion of the Safety Check List in the supporting documentation sent to ARRL Headquarters.

Last year, 2720 stations submitted ARRL Field Day entries. Nearly 1.3 million contacts were logged during FD 2015 — an increase of just over 1 percent. There were 35,369 individuals taking part in Field Day last year.

The 2016 ARRL Field Day logo makes a connection to the League’s year-long National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) operating event. NPOTA celebrates the centennial of the National Park Service (NPS). ARRL Graphic Design Supervisor Sue Fagan, KB1OKW, created the logo.

The design’s featured hiking boot footprint anticipates that many 2016 Field Day groups and individual operators may want to combine FD and NPOTA, setting up at national parks, historic sites, or at any of the hundreds of official National Park Service units throughout the US.

Pick your park, get the okay from park officials, get out and get on the air, and leave nothing but footprints!

You can follow Field Day on Facebook and Twitter! ARRL has created a Field Day event on Facebook. It’s also possible to join the conversation on Twitter by using the hash tag #ARRLFD. Share your plans, tips, and tricks to a successful Field Day!